KATHLEEN BRETT
International performing artist Kathleen Brett has performed extensively throughout the Americas and Europe. As a regular principal guest artist in the US and abroad she has performed at The Royal Opera Covent Garden, L’Opera de Monte Carlo, the Vlaamse Opera, Antwerp and Ghent, San Francisco Opera, Dallas Opera, New York City Opera, Teatro Municipal, Brazil among many others and has performed with every major Canadian opera company and orchestra. She has collaborated with some of the finest conductors and directors of our time in a wide spectrum of repertoire ranging from the Renaissance to contemporary works. Roles with which she is identified are Susanna (LE NOZZE DI FIGARO), Pamina (THE MAGIC FLUTE), Juliette (ROMEO ET JULIETTE), Musetta (LA BOHEME) Blanche, (DIALOGUES OF THE CARMELITES, Romilda (XERXES), to name just a few. Equally at home on the concert platform, she has performed and recorded with numerous orchestras including Toronto Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Chicago Symphony, the Boston Pops and Cincinnati Pops (Marian in Grammy-nominated MUSIC MAN). Miss Brett divides time between teaching and performing and currently resides in New York City. She was on the Voice Faculty at the Victoria Conservatory of Music and teaches at numerous young artist programs in Canada and Europe.
KELLY ROBINSON
Kelly Robinson is an award-winning freelance Director, Dramaturge and Choreographer residing in NYC. His shows are audience and critical successes with a recent production of Evita breaking the record for highest ticket sales in Vancouver Opera’s history. With a career that spans theatre, opera, and film, his work as a director and choreographer has been seen at Mirvish Productions in Toronto, the National Arts Centre, CanStage, the Stratford and Shaw Festivals in Canada, the Palace Theatre in New York, the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Centre, Plymouth Theatre Royal, and London’s West End in the United Kingdom. His work with opera includes the companies of Vancouver, Portland, Calgary, Dallas, Arizona, Québec City, Utah, and Minnesota. His production of West Side Story at the Avon Theatre for the Stratford Festival set attendance records and his new production of Filumena has now become the most produced Canadian Opera in history. He was the Artistic and Executive Director of Theatre Arts at The Banff Centre, Canada’s Centre for Arts and Creativity for 6 years, where he had extensive experience in commissioning, contracting and developing new works, working closely with theatre artists in all phases of creative development. He significantly expanded The Centre’s activity and profile nationally and internationally through partnership, co-development and production. At The Centre, he instituted a new international program in training for Musical Theatre, and developed and led the Opera as Theatre Program. He is also Director of New Work Development for Toronto’s Mirvish Productions acting as a Creative Producer and Director for new work destined for production in Mirvish Theatres. As a dramaturge and director he is currently developing Fly High, Milena and The Lost Song.